Shadow of Lies
by Analogk37
Summary: [2032 Original] The year is 2036, Mason, Largo and even Quincy are now defeated. However, a new job goes horribly wrong and shakes the very foundation the Knight Sabers were formed upon. Ch 2 now up!
1. Part I

AN: Here is part 1 of a new BGC 2032/2033 based fic that I'm working on. I think its going to be four, maybe five short chapters... but we will see. Oh, and of course, I don't own any of the characters in this fic. Then again, I wonder how long before the rights for the original characters become public property at this rate? ;)

Bubblegum Crisis 2036

Shadow of Lies

Part I

By Analogk37

* * *

22 year old Nene Romanova sat alone in the waiting room. Not that she wanted to be alone, but she just couldn't stand to look anymore. Her tired eyelids closed for just a moment and the horrifying slideshow of images started anew in her mind. Green eyes fired open again, this time her body starting to shake once more. She clutched herself to try and vainly subdue her reaction, her breathing short and ragged.

"Why? Why did they do this? Why now?"

Sure, she knew they were playing a dangerous game as mercenaries. After five years she wasn't as naïve as she once had been. And all those years, she had seen much in the way of violence and killing. Mason, Largo, Quincy… they had all been involved in some very personal bouts of vengeance with the Knight Sabers. And yet, Nene had always felt that they were still fighting 'evil', that the Knight Sabers had a just cause and purpose. But recently, some doubts had crept into her ideals.

And some of those recent doubts began to swell in Nene's heart as she thought back just a few weeks ago when Priss had invited her backstage at "Hot Legs". The invitation was so out of place for Priss that Nene had done a triple take at the e-mail when she read it. But after the meeting, after Priss told her she had some concerns and that she wanted Nene to do some behind the scenes checking on Sylia's activities on this latest job involving the "Shadow Weapons" corporation, she began to understand just why.

_"I've got a bad feeling about this."_ Priss' words of warning to Nene rang loud in her memory now.

"_Priss… oh god…"_ Nene ran both hands through disheveled red hair, resisting a lingering urge to heave up the remains of her dinner. The sudden sound of footsteps in the hospital hallway shot her nerves even more, causing the young woman to immediately scan the waiting room for an emergency exit.

"Nene? Nene, its just me," Linna's reassuring voice reached across the room as she saw the panic in Nene's eyes.

"Thank god," she sighed out, her shoulders collapsing.

Linna walked over and sat down next to her teammate, putting her arm around her for added comfort. She started to say that it was going to be okay… except the words wouldn't come out of Linna's mouth. She couldn't say it because she didn't believe it either. Not after what they had seen tonight.

They sat together in silence for a while, words not finding their way to describe the thoughts they both struggled with. For minutes they stayed that way, until Nene interrupted their introspections for just a brief moment.

"Did Sylia say anything else to you, Linna?"

Linna slid her arm off Nene and clasped her hands together tightly in her lap. "No, not yet."

"Linna, do you think its safe to go back to our apartments? Even our jobs?"

Linna bowed her head. She knew the answer, and she was sure Nene knew the answer too. But it was the next question that was so tough for all of them now. "What do we do now? They know who we are…"

"We'll discuss that back at the Silky Doll," Sylia answered for them from the waiting room doorway, startling both Linna and Nene in the process.

"Sylia," they replied in unison, both voices wavering, unsure.

"We should go back now. There's nothing more we can do here."

"But Priss…" Linna started, her tone hurt, worried.

"She's not awake yet, but her condition has stabilized. The doctor says her recovery prognosis looks favorable."

"But what kind of recovery? God, she's almost unrecognizable!!!" Linna stood up, venting.

A broken sob from Nene halted her tirade. "Nene, oh, I'm sorry…"

"… it's… it's okay…" Nene lied tersely.

"I understand your both upset, but we have to keep the future in mind now. You'll have to trust me when I say we need to regroup now, back at the shop." Sylia spoke coolly.

Linna looked ready to argue some more, but a quick glance down at Nene halted those thoughts. She nodded her agreement towards Sylia, who then paused for Nene to reply.

Misty green eyes rose up towards Sylia. Nene blinked back the worry for a moment and pursed her lips, nodding her understanding as well.

"Okay then. Let's leave as we came, separately, no less than fifteen minutes apart."

A short huff preceded a shorter comment. "Like it will do us any good," Linna parried, Priss-like.

"Linna, I understand your concern," Sylia tried to reason, but was cut off by another tirade from the upset Saber.

"Damnit Sylia! They know who we are!"

"We only know that they have our names, not our faces and not our identities… not yet anyway," Sylia sternly rebutted, folding her arms across her chest. "And I had Priss brought to this clinic because, as I mentioned before, I have arrangements here that make it a very safe place for us in situations just like this. Now, I suggest we finish this discussion back at the store," she ordered, more than asked, her tone rising as she spoke.

Linna stared at her feet, clinching her fists. Finally she threw her head back and let out a deep sigh. "Okay, back at the store."

"Good. I'm heading back now. Be safe and remember not to communicate unless absolutely necessary on the way to the store." With that, Sylia turned and strode out of the waiting room.

Once out of earshot of Sylia, Linna walked over to one of the two windows and looked outside. "Sometimes I just don't understand her… how she can be so cold."

Nene heard the words without hearing them. Her mind was still trapped on the stark images that Linna had unknowingly dredged up in her memory. Nene continued to outwardly stare at the floor until Linna finally waved a hand in front of her face. Nene blushed slightly, realizing that her friend had been talking to the furniture for a few minutes.

"Still in there Nene?" Linna chided with a small smile.

A tired "yeah" was all she could muster.

Immediately a frown replaced the smile and Linna was kneeling down in front of Nene. She took a hold of the ADP officer's hands with her own and gave them a reassuring squeeze. "Listen Nene, we'll make it through this somehow. I'm not giving up on Priss just yet. You know as well as I do that she's a fighter. Besides, Sylia will come up with a plan, and we'll all be back on our feet in no time."

The reassurance at least temporarily worked on the red-haired woman. "You didn't sound so sure a few minutes ago," Nene chided in return.

"Yeah, I know. It's just… I know Priss will make it. But I just wish Sylia would show a little more concern sometimes."

Sylia's name triggered another worrisome thought. "Linna, about Sylia…"

"Yeah, I know she can be a bitch…"

"No, it's not that," Nene corrected. "It was something Priss asked me to do a few weeks ago. When this new job involving 'Shadow Weapons' started, Priss said that something didn't feel right with the way Sylia was involving us. She couldn't put a finger on it, but she had a hunch that something was different this time."

"Yeah, but you know how paranoid Priss can be sometimes," Linna defended.

"I know, but some inconsistencies came up when I did some digging. I talked to Priss and she was going to check up on a couple of leads. This morning, she left me a message saying she had found something and wanted to talk with Sylia."

"So, what are you saying?" Linna asked.

"I don't know. It was just a feeling that Priss had. I never got to really find out what was going on, other than just some transactions that didn't add up and wound up being untraceable."

Linna put on hand on her chin, turning around and walking back towards the window. "I don't pretend to know everything Sylia does and why, but I know I trust Priss' instincts."

"She isn't wrong very often," Nene agreed, before coming back to the present. "So what could have happened today? How could this have happened to her?"

They both lost themselves in momentary reflection. Linna was the first to break out. "I don't know, but I'm going to see Sylia and find out. Are you going to be okay if I leave first?" Linna asked.

Nene took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah, I think so. I'll just be a few minutes behind you."

"Okay." Linna padded towards the hallway and paused at the door. "Be safe, okay?"

"I will," Nene affirmed, managing a smile at her friend.

Linna smiled in return before leaving for her car in the garage.

That officially left Nene to herself. She glanced at her watch, marking the time. She gave herself ten minutes, more than enough time she thought. Before she left, she had one thing she still owed Priss. Leaving the waiting room, Nene walked down the hallway and into the intensive care wing of the private facility. Room two was just to the left. Her hand touched the door handle lightly, her body initially resisting the urge to open it. She knew what was waiting for her on the other side. But still, she had to at least follow through on her promise.

The door opened with a click, and immediately the beeping sounds of machines and ventilators filled her eardrums. Her eyes traced the tubing and wires to the center of the room… and to Priss. However, if the room didn't say P.Asagiri on the outside, one wouldn't be able to recognize her in her current state.

Nene walked to her side and gripped a cold hand lightly. There was no response from the woman lying on the bed. Nene's gaze drifted into Priss' face and immediately memories of earlier in the evening came rushing back… memories of finding Priss in worse shape than ever… even after the battle with Largo. Back then she was able to walk away from the fight. This time, she wasn't so lucky. None of them were.

* * *

Work had kept her busy from the first cup of coffee in the morning. A stack of overdue paperwork that had to be closed out by the end of the day made sure of that. Thus, when she finally got to her scooter by 19:00, she had only started to shift mental gears back to Priss and Sylia. After a bite to eat, she was already on her way to the shop when Sylia called in the alert.

Sylia had told them that Priss had gone off on her own again, investigating a Shadow Weapons lab, and was in trouble. Nothing new about that… except the circumstances were a little more personal for Nene. Nene even asked if Priss had talked to Sylia earlier. Sylia had replied that she was supposed to meet with her at lunch but Priss had called at the last minute saying something had come up and she'd have to talk later. Nene had made a mental note to follow up with Priss after they bailed her out of trouble.

They were all in armor and on their way within ten minutes of the alert. But by the time they arrived at the site, an underground facility that could best be described as a laboratory supply graveyard , it was too late.

Nene had a very bad feeling by the fact it was so quiet when they arrived. Usually any battles with Priss were so loud over half of Tokyo knew what was happening, including the ADP, TV crews and the military. But not this time. The entry doors were unlocked, not even the first door was unhinged. The staircases leading to the lower levels were clear. It wasn't until they flew into the darkened lab that any signs of trouble were evident.

The images burned in the back of her mind now. The large broken flasks, the overturned and smashed crates. Wiring, tubing and junk strewn about from wall to wall. The huge dents, ruts, and scratches everywhere showing evidence of a colossal struggle. And then the blood stains. But those images weren't the worst. What came next was much more horrifying…

Nene could still hear Linna's voice ringing loud in her ears. "What the hell? Priss? PRISS!!! Sylia, Nene, over here!!!" Nene had one eye on her scanners and one eye ahead in her visor until the red, blue, and crimson mangled mess came into view in the center of the now open space. The only thought that would come into her mind was that Priss was dead. There was no way she could still be alive.

Very little of her outer armor was still on her body. The rest of the blue and red chunks were strewn about all over the room. Her helmet was torn off, her face bruised, bloody and almost unrecognizable. Eyelids swollen shut, hair a bloody, tattered mess, but then her scanners gave a bit of good news. "She… she's still alive!" Nene shouted.

Linna had leaned over to scoop up her body when Sylia stopped her. "Careful, check for broken bones before moving her."

Nene almost didn't need her scanners to tell her what was broken. Blood seemed to flow out of every remaining inner joint of the destroyed hardsuit. Arms and legs were twisted at unnatural angles. But, her torso seemed to be fairly intact, almost as if someone wasn't just trying to kill Priss, but torture her as well. It was then that Linna noticed the writing on the crate behind them. "Wha… what is… sylia… SYLIA!!!" she had screamed, pointing.

At top was inscribed "Knight Sabers", just like Nene had left their signature many times before. But below it was the part that had immediately rolled her stomach. Crimson letters stained the wood crate. But it was the source of the 'ink', the trail of splattered, dried blood from Priss' body, which was the most sickening part to Nene. Her very blood formed the letters that spelled out certain, familiar names…

Sylia

Nene

Linna

Priss

…with a punctuated bloody line crossed through the last name on the list.

_To be continued…_


	2. Part II

Bubblegum Crisis 2036

Shadow of Lies

Part II

By Analogk37

* * *

"Who did this???" Linna screamed, furious, pointing at their names scribed from Priss' blood as if it required any more attention to get noticed.

Immediately Nene double-checked her scanners. Still nothing, no humans boomers, or even significant power sources were anywhere in the building. "I'm not picking up anything," Nene replied tersely.

"Okay then. Linna, get Priss to the van quickly," Sylia ordered, taking command.

Linna didn't move at first. She stood, staring at the crate with her arms by her sides, fists clenched and shaking.

"…Linna…" she repeated.

Finally, Nene could almost see Linna blink through her visor, focusing on the task at hand.

"Y… yeah, I'll take care of it."

The next few minutes were a blur for Nene. Sylia directed their activities: Priss' primary care and evacuation, a quick scene analysis, and cleanup of the evidence. From there they split up. Sylia brought Priss to the private clinic. Meanwhile Linna and Nene changed back at the store and then sped separately to rendezvous with Sylia, trying to remain as anonymous as possible.

A sudden twitch in her palm immediately brought Nene back to the present. Her eyes blinked and saw Priss' fingers move again. "Priss? Priss, can you hear me?"

The head on the pillow turned slightly in her direction. Bruised, purple lips flinched ever so slightly.

"Priss? Just… hold on, I'll get a nurse." Nene said, letting go of Priss' hand… or at least trying to. Fingers that shouldn't have been strong enough to hold a feather grabbed her hand in a sudden death grip, startling Nene. She spun back around to look at Priss' contorted face actually forcing open her swollen eyelids, red eyes brimming with pain boring into her.

She drew one deep pained breath. A single, faint word managed to escape from her lips… "… sylvie…"

Nene turned white as a ghost. Her mind spun with the possible meanings, with several becoming very real concerns. "Sylvie? Priss, did you just say Sylvie? Did…" She almost could bring herself to ask, but she had to. "Did Sylvie do this to you?"

Priss tried to draw another breath, but began a hacking cough instead. In place of the words, she squeezed Nene's hand and nodded as best she could move her neck.

"But… but that's not possible. She's dead… at least… as dead as…" And then Nene realized the flaw in her logic. Still, questions burned through her mind. _But I thought Sylia destroyed the remains. What if its not the same Sylvie? _She looked down at Priss and asked as careful as she could given how she knew Priss felt about the reformed boomer. "Priss, are you sure it was her. Are you positive it was Sylvie."

Priss gathered her strength, taking short, shallow breaths this time. "Yes, I'm sure… she… Sylvie… remembered what happened… with… the DD… the disk… Anri…"

"But how is that possible? Sylia, I thought…" Nene countered, before Priss squeezed her hand.

"I just… just know it was her… Nene… it was Sylvie. Nene…" Priss paused, looking at the ceiling, her swollen eyes now filling with tears, streaks forming on either sides of her bruised cheeks. "… she… Sylvie didn't want to… she kept… saying… can't… can't stop…"

A alarming beeping noise from above Priss startled Nene. She glanced up into the source of the noise, reading an electronic display. "Med App Prog 2 Beg," it read in yellow digital letters.

"… I couldn't… fight back… she… was crying… couldn't stop… couldn't… stop… crying…" Priss voice trailed off as her eyelids closed again, her grip loosening up.

"Priss? Priss???" Nene's head swiveled back and forth, scanning the rest of the meters, looking for any other hints of what was happening. "What's going on???" Finally, her panicked voice finally prompted a response in the form of a nurse entering the room.

"Is everything alright here Miss?"

"She was just awake!" Nene said alarmed, worriedly glancing back at the now silent Priss.

The nurse walked over to the other side of the bed into the bank of machines. She pressed a few buttons, scanning through some displays. "Ah yes, well, it appears as if an auto-scheduled dose of pain medication was just injected. And from these readings, it does appear that she was conscious."

"I know she was awake! I was right damn here!" the other woman angrily huffed, combing one hand through her frayed, red locks.

The nurse gave a short smile at her. "Yes, of course. Well, I would guess by the dosage that she would likely be sleeping for most of the next 24 hours."

"24 hours??? Just great," Nene sighed.

The nurse nodded briefly towards her and picked up a clipboard at the end of the bed, leaving the room.

Nene stared down at Priss, rubbing her tired eyes. "Now what do I do?" Could she really believe Priss? Could it just be the drugs in her system? But what if she was right? What did it mean, and what about Sylia?

Glancing down at her watch, Nene decided to go right to the source for some answers. It was time to go see Sylia.

* * *

"For the most part, the 33S known as Sylvie is destroyed," Sylia answered cryptically, standing close to the dark windows of the lounge.

"The most part?" Nene repeated, upset.

Linna wasn't very happy either. "What about the rest of her? Where is she Sylia?!?" she stood, voice rising by the syllable.

Nene stared at the back of her friend. _So much for trusting Sylia and having nothing to worry about _She managed to keep that thought to herself.

Sylia still remained calm however. "Please sit down and I will start from the beginning."

Linna grumbled, but did as she was told, taking her seat on the couch as she began to nervously rub her right forearm. She and Nene exchanged worried looks, then focused back on Sylia.

"After the battle with Largo, and especially after the ordeal that Priss suffered with both Sylvie and Anri, I knew that we needed additional information on the 33S type boomers. It was imperative that samples be taken and analyzed of some of the more critical components…"

"Like their brains?" Linna interrupted angrily.

"CPU's", Nene corrected, to which Linna shot her an equally angry look. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Nene is right," Sylia agreed. "Remember, Linna, we are not dealing with humans here. This is technology, boomer technology from my father's research that is potentially being misused."

"Sylia, we've been through this before. I understand what your saying, except that you and I both know that when Priss finds out, she won't care if it's a brain, a CPU, or a toaster. All she will know is you lied to her about Anri and Sylvie."

"And that was a chance I had to take. I had those components analyzed here as far as I could, and then…" she paused, bowing her head for just a moment before raising it with a small, pained look on her face, "… I had them further tested by a respected colleague at Kyoto University."

Nene immediately read between the lines. "… oh no…"

Linna sunk her head in disgust. "Let me guess the next part. He stole the parts and sold them to Shadow Weapons."

"That would be the most accurate working assumption, from all the intelligence we've currently been able to uncover," Sylia answered.

Linna huffed, shaking her head. "Priss is going to kill you."

Nene quickly piped in, nodding in agreement. "Without a doubt."

"So this is why you were so cryptic with our job investigating Shadow Weapons?" Linna queried.

"And who are we actually working for this time? Just you Sylia?" Nene further surmised.

Sylia closed her eyes and smiled. "I suppose after five years I shouldn't be surprised by how quickly you catch on."

Linna wasn't smiling. "And after five years, I thought you could trust us Sylia."

Her face instantly turned ice cold, peering silently through cracked open eyelids at the former dancer. The room filled thick with tension as the two women stared each other down, one sitting, the other standing a few feet away, both with arms crossed tightly on their chests.

"Um-hmmm!" Nene interrupted, clearing her throat to help cut through the drama. First she turned to Linna. "Listen, I wish that Sylia would have been honest with us, but I understand why she wouldn't tell us. We both know what Priss would have done if she had found out."

For her part, Linna finally blinked, then bowed her head. She knew it was the truth. "But still," she argued to the floor, "that doesn't change the fact that you hid this from us… and Priss was almost killed tonight because of it."

"Linna…" Sylia started to reply.

The other Knight Saber wasn't finished just yet though. With fire brimming behind her eyes, she lifted her head up and stared straight into the other woman. "No Sylia, just… don't. I don't want to hear it. Listen, we've fought side by side for years now. We've always covered each other's backs. But tonight, for some reason, that all changed. And the worst part is, tonight, for the first time, I don't think you gave a damn about Priss' life." With that, Linna stood up and walked out.

The sudden move took Nene off guard so much, she never even had a chance to stop her friend. Indecisively, she spun her head from the door, back to Sylia and then to the closed door again. "But what about the… but what… oh… what do we do now Sylia?" she stammered, utterly confused. On one hand, she wanted to run after Linna and convince her to come back. After all, they still had to figure out what to do about their names showing up in that lab earlier. But, on the other hand, she realized that whatever Sylia did to Priss by hiding the fact that she was still using parts of the 33S', Linna took it very personal. Especially after what happened after the last battle with Quincy at the Genom tower.

A low groan brought Nene from her introspections and back to reality, where she found Sylia rubbing her temples in obvious pain. "Sylia?"

"I… I'm okay… Nene. I… just need to take… something…" And with that, Sylia gingerly walked out of the lounge, gripping the side of the doorway for support as she left.

Nene was too tired to chase after her. She collapsed into the couch behind her, putting a weary hand to her own forehead. But Linna was right in one regard, this was not the Sylia that they had known for years now. Or was it? That was the trick with Sylia, their mysterious leader. Nene had to wonder if she ever really knew Sylia at all, especially with the evening's revelations about Sylvie and Anri.

She glanced back at the closed doorway, recalling Sylia's awkward exit in her mind. But as she thought on it, another image flashed in her memory and brought with it a fresh stab of pain in her heart.

"… mackey…"

The image… the young man nervously running through that same doorway… running away from the Knight Sabers…and Nene… at least that's what she had finally deduced. Her boyfriend left without much in the way of an excuse, explanation, or a plan. He had just left. Sylia attributed it to his need to grow up and be his own person. For her part, Nene wasn't so sure. For a couple of weeks prior Mackey had acted very strangely, not talking to her, missing meetings, sleeping at odd hours of the day. And then, out of the blue, just announcing to the team that he was moving overseas.

And Nene still had no idea where he was.

"… mackey…"

* * *

The small car parked on the side road, the black haired woman sat in her seat staring ahead at the steering wheel. "Why am I here?" she asked herself for the fourth time in the last fifteen minutes. She glanced down at the chronometer. It glowed 1:45 back at her, green light illuminating the bottom half of the shift handle. The other half burned in a faded brown light from the overhead street lamp, marking out a circle around the car.

For the fifth time, Linna looked across the street and into the third floor window. It was still dark, blinds drawn shut behind the shut glass. She turned her head back and tilted it back, pressing her hair hard into the headrest. Linna gripped the steering wheel, let out a deep sigh then ripped the keys from the ignition and strode out of the car. With a few purposeful steps, she quickly walked into the stairwell and up to the third floor of the apartment building.

The doorbell buzzed for roughly five minutes before the multiple locks started to click. The door cracked open and a tall, rough around the edges man peered through the vertical slit.

"What the hell… you…" His eyes flared with pained recognition.

Linna saw him glance over his shoulder at something. _probably the clock _, she surmised.

"It's almost 2," he announced, his slowed, tired mind trying to piece together the clues. It didn't take long for his heart to make his mind up, however. "Look Linna, I thought we both agreed this would never…"

"Leon, not now," Linna stopped him, pushing hard on the door and forcing her way past him and inside the doorway, stopping just a few feet past him with her back still turned in his direction.

The ADP officer left the door cracked open, unsure if he really wanted to go through with this right now. It only took his heart a fraction of a second to make up his mind. "I think you should leave."

"I don't have anywhere else to go."

"What about Stingray?"

"No."

The tone in her voice told Leon something was wrong. "Priss?" When Linna didn't immediately answer, he knew something was very wrong.

"She was almost killed tonight."

The door closed and the locks clicked in. Inside, voices continued to murmur.

Meanwhile, outside and down the next alley two dark shapes flowed around the fleeting lights of the quiet residential street. They merged with the shadows and flowed silently around the parked cars first. Next, they slithered up all three floors of the stairwell. Lastly, the two shapes flowed with the still night breeze up to the freshly secured door.

_To be continued…_


End file.
